Key guard and stop.



W/TNESSES:

PATENTED SEPT. 10, 1907. H. M. BENEDICT KEY GUARD AND STOP. APPLICATION FILED JAiN. 30, 1906.

WI/ ad ATTORNEYS T HARRIS M. BENEDICT, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

KEY GUARD AND STOP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept 10, 1907.

Application filed January 30, 1906. Serial No. 298,635.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, I-IARRIs M. BENEDICT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Cincinnati, (College Hill,) in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Key Guard and Stop, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a guide and stop for a key which will quickly and surely direct a key to the key-hole of a lock when brought into contact with the device at night or day, and even when the key-hole is not visible.

A further purpose oi the invention is to so construct the device that it will be simple, durable and economic and so that it may be cast or otherwise integrally formed with the lock casing, or which may be independent of the casing so as to accommodate the device to the keyhole of; any lock in position upon a door.

The invention consists in the'novel construction and combination of the several parts as will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a perspective view of the device shown applied to the escutcheon of a lock; and Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken practically on the line 22 of Fig. 1,

A represents a door, B an escutcheon secured to the door and provided with the customary key-hole 10, and C represents the improved guide and stop for the key. This guide and stop consist of a body bar 11 of any desired cross sectional shape; preferably, however, the said body baris rectangular in cross section and is bent upon itself between its ends to form an angular ordinarily central section or point 12, and two inclined faces 13 and 14 which extend downward in opposite directions from the said angular point or section 12 as best shown in Fig. 1. When the said body bar 11 is in position relative to the key-hole 10 the angular section 12 will be directly over the upper central portion of the key-hole. The bar 1]. having wings at an angle, as de scribed, and adapted to extend in use across the escutcheon is attached at one end to a block or foot 15 having openings therein through which screws 16 or equivalent fastening devices may be passed into the door A. The block or foot is of novel construction relatively to the bar, as said block projects laterally in both directions beyond the side edges of the bar so that the key guide may be applied to a door and secured at either side of the escutcheon with the guide bar above or below the key hole, as may be desired, and the offset portion of the foot block will permit the placing of the guide bar fiat against its escutcheon and the placing of the foot block flat against the door, the offset construction of the block securing this end, as will be understood from Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing. This is important as it facilitates the application of the device to a door in the manner before described.

When the key is provided with a long shank so that the head of the key will not strike the device when the key is turned in the lock, the body bar 11 will be made of a rigid material; but if the key has a short shank or if the head of the key when the key is in place in the lock comes close to the casing of the lock or-to the escutcheon, then the body bar 11 is made of a flexible material in order to be temporarily pressed out of the way by engagement with the head or shank of the key.

It is obvious that if the key is made to strike either inclined face 13 0114: of the body bar, it will naturally be directed to the central or angular section 12, and as the under face of the body bar at this point is practically flush with the upper edge of the key-hole 10 the key will be automatically directed into the key-hole.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

As a new article of manufacture a key guide comprising a bar having Wings at an angle to each other and adapted to extend in use across an escutcheon and adjacent to a keyhole therethrough and provided at one end with a block having openings formed through it for fastening screws, said block projecting laterally in both directions beyond the side edges of the guide bar whereby the device may be applied to a door and secured at either side of the escutcheon and with the guide bar above or below the keyhole and the offset portion of the foot block will permit the placing of the guide bar flat against its escutcheon with the face of the foot block flat against the door.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRIS M. BENEDICT.

Witnesses HARRY Wnrnrnn, .T. E. IIODGE. 

